Taken By The Wolf by Neneh Gordon

Taken
By The Wolf

     
     
     
    I woke up in the dark with a splitting headache. For a
moment, I thought I was at home, but when I opened my eyes and got used to the
gloom, I didn’t recognise anything. I lay there for a few seconds, my heart
pounding in my chest as I tried to remember what had happened.
    The bar. I’d been drinking in some
bar on the high-street. Someone must have slipped something in my drink. The
sound of my pulse was suddenly deafening. Hysteria threatened and I tried to
think my way through it. I jumped out of bed and looked down at myself. I was
still wearing the blue lycra mini-dress I’d gone out
in. Had someone… Had someone raped me? My underwear was still intact. I didn’t
feel like I’d had sex. But how could I know for sure?
    My high heels had been placed next to the folding camp-bed I’d
been lying on. I thought about putting them on, but they wouldn’t be much use
if I had to run. Where was I? Light trickled into the room through a single
window – I was finding it easier to see by the minute. The place was some sort
of shack – wooden walls, cold and draughty. There was only one door. It looked
like it led outside. A one room hut. But where?
    Then I saw the others. Two other girls
asleep on folding beds, just like I had been.
    I rushed over to the closest one – a blonde – and shook her
shoulder. “Wake up.”
    Her eyes flickered and she stretched, but then she rolled
over and stayed asleep. I tried the brunette. Her eyes opened and she sat up.
“What… Who are you?”
    Thank god. I wasn’t alone any more. “Do you know where we
are?”
    She looked around us, wide-eyed. “No.” Throwing back the
covers, she got out of bed. She was dressed much the same as me, in a low cut
top and short skirt.
    “Were you in a bar?”
    She circled her bed and saw the blonde. When she nudged her
through her blanket, she groaned and finally woke up.
    “Were you in a bar?” I asked again.
    “Yeah. Promises.”
    “Shit. That’s where I was.”
    “Wake up,” she said to the blonde. “I think we’ve been
kidnapped. Are you okay?”
    “I, I think so.” She sat up and rubbed at her face. Another mini dress. Black this time.
    “What’s the last thing you remember?” The brunette chewed at
her thumbnail.
    “I was in The Hush with my friends—”
    “We were across the road.”
    “What’s your name?” I asked.
    “Brenda,” the blonde said.
    I told them my name was Sandy. The brunette was called Mel.
We told our stories, exchanging the little we knew about what had happened. It
definitely sounded like we’d been drugged. But by who? “So where are we?” I went to the window and looked out. The moon was high and
full, casting enough light for me to make out trees and nothing more. The
others came to stand beside me and we all stared out at the unfamiliar
landscape. I could tell they were thinking the same as me – was our kidnapper
out there, watching us?
    “I’m getting out of here.” Mel wrapped a blanket around her
shoulders and went to the door. We followed suit, although I was terrified
something awful was going to happen if we managed to get outside. She tried the
handle and we all held our breath.
    The door opened with a creak that tailed off into silence.
Cold air rushed inside to greet us. It was silent out there. We stood on the
threshold, unsure of what to do. Then Mel stepped through the door. We stepped
out after her. A rustle in the bushes over to the left made us all turn our
heads.
    Brenda grabbed hold of my arm. “What was that?”
    I looked out into the dark. Nothing was moving. “I don’t
know,” I whispered.
    We edged out towards the path, clutching at each other. When
no one jumped out at us, we walked a little faster. None of us was wearing
shoes, so we couldn’t go as fast as we wanted to. The path stretched off into
the distance, promising us a way out of this nightmare. No one mentioned the
rustling that kept pace with us, off somewhere in the